Great Canford Dorset Family History Guide

Great Canford is an Ancient Parish in the county of Dorset.

Other places in the parish include: Ensbury, East Howe, Creekmoor, Canford Magna St Andrew, Broadstone, Ashington, West Howe, Waterloo, Upton, Talbot Village, Oakley, Newtown, Newton, Moretown, Little Canford, Knighton, Kinson, Kingstone, Kingston, and Heatherlands.

Alternative names: Canford Magna

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Great Canford

Parish registers: 1563
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1813

Canford Magna St Andrew

Parish registers: 1680
Bishop’s Transcripts: None

Nonconformists include:

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

CANFORD (Great), a village and a parish in Poole district, Dorset. The village stands on the river Stour, near the Southwestern railway, 2 miles E of Wimborne-Minster; and has a post-office under Wimborne, and an iron-foundry.

The parish contains also the village of Little Canford, and the tythings of Kinson, Longfleet, and Parkstone; extends southward to Poole harbour; and includes part of Poole borough. Acres, 17,739; of which 1,740 are water. Rated property, exclusive of the parts within Poole borough, £6,401. Pop., 4,877. Houses, 976. The property is much subdivided.

The manor belonged once to John of Gaunt; belongs now to Sir J. B. Guest, Bart.; and is of great extent. The mansion on it, Canford Hall, occupies the site of an Ursuline convent; is an edifice in the Tudor style, built, in 1826, for Lord de Manly; includes remains of the convent kitchen, with two huge fireplaces; and has a very fine hall. A gallery, connected by a cloister with the mansion, contains Assyrian sculptures from Nineveh; and drives go through fir woods to the vicinity of Poole. Merly House, to the west, the seat of Willett L. Adye, Esq., contains paintings by Hogarth, and the sketches of his “Marriage a la Mode.”

The living is a vicarage in the dio. of Salisbury; and till 1865 included Kinson chapelry. Value, £450. Patron, Sir J. B. Guest, Bart. The church has Norman features, particularly in the tower; and contains monuments, by Bacon, to the Willetts of Merly. The chapelries of Kinson, Longfleet, and Parkstone are separate benefices. Charities, £22.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

CANFORD, GREAT, a parish, in the union of Poole, hundred of Cogdean, Wimborne division of Dorset, 2¼ miles (S. E. by E.) from Wimborne-Minster; comprising the chapelries of Kingston and Parkstone, and the tything of Longfleet; and containing 3957 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the south bank of the river Stour, and on the road from Poole to Southampton; and comprises by measurement 12,395 acres.

The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £11. 9. 9½.; patron, Sir Josiah John Guest. The parish, with respect to tithes, is separated into the eastern, middle, and western divisions: the tithes of the eastern division have been commuted for £380, and are payable every third year to the vicar, and in the two other years to the impropriator; the tithes of the western division have been commuted for £286 payable every third year to the vicar, and £133 two years in three to the impropriators; and those of the middle division for £295 payable every third year to the vicar, and £35 payable two years in three to impropriators. The glebe comprises 86 acres.

The church consists of a nave and chancel, with a north aisle to each, and a tower between the two aisles; also a south aisle to the nave, and a south chapel to the chancel: the font, of Purbeck marble, is of great antiquity. There are other churches at Kingston, Parkstone, and Longfleet, forming separate incumbencies. The Independents have a place of worship. A small portion of the ancient manor-house, called John of Gaunt’s Kitchen, is still remaining.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Parish Registers

Marriage Allegations

The following people have been recorded in the Hampshire Allegations for Marriage Licences granted by the Bishop of Winchester 1689 to 1837.

BREWER, Robert, of Great Canford, co. Dorset, husbandman, & Mary Lacy, at Ellingham, 4 Apl., 1725.

BREWER, Robert, of Canford, co. Dorset, husbandman, & Elizabeth Lacey, at Ellingham, 29 Oct., 1726.

Parish Records

FamilySearch

Dorset Historical Directories

Directory Transcriptions

Kelly’s Directory of Dorsetshire 1880

CANFORD MAGNA is a village and parish in Wimborne petty sessional division, Cogdean hundred, Poole union and county court district, diocese of Salisbury, archdeaconry of Dorset and rural deanery of Whitchurch second portion, 6 miles north by east from Poole, 2 south east from Wimborne station and 115½ from London and pleasantly situated on the river Stour.

UPTON is a hamlet on the shore of Holes bay, in the parishes of Canford Magna and Corfe Mullen

KNIGHTON is 1½ miles south east. To the south is a great heath or down; on it are Figbury, Hakesbury, Lush other barrows.

Parish Clerk Benjamin Bason

Post & Postal Telegraph Office – Mrs Elizabeth Lovell receiver. Letters received from Wimborne at 7 am; dispatched at 7 pm. The nearest money order office is at Wimborne.

A handsome Free school has been erected by Sir Ivor B. Guest bart., for about 100 children, boys & girls, & a second National school was erected by him at Broadstone, the further extremity of the parish, in 1873
National, Canford, Miss Sarah Fooks mistress
National, Broadstone, Richard George Musgrave master
Dawson-Damer Rev Lionel D.W. M.A. vicar
Guest Sir Ivor Bertie bart DL JP Canford house
Meaby Mrs
Meaby Thomas James
Waterman William Corfe hills
Weinholt Miss Helen Merby hall
Weinholt Miss Merly hall

COMMERCIAL

Austin Charles farmer Lake farm
Baker William ranger
Cottenham John farmer Plainfield
Ford Robert Alfred builder
Hayes William blacksmith
Howell Edward iron founder & agricultural implement maker Waterloo foundry near Poole
Legg Harim Nag’s Head
Long James farm bailiff to Sir IB Guest bart Moretown
Pettey Wm Hurd, farmer Manor farm
Paterson Charles land agent & steward to Sir IB Guest bart
Raymond James farmer Oakley farm
Sharland Elias brick & drain tile maker
Smith Samuel John Willet Arms
Towse Robert clerk of works to Sir Ivor Bertie Guest bart
Wittle John William farmer & cattl dealer Merly farm

Source: Kelly’s directory of Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Wiltshire (the Isle of Wight, and the Channel Islands).
By Kelly’s directories, ltd · 1880

An Address from the County of Dorset on the Elementary Education Bill, May 9 1870

To the Right Honourable The EARL de GREY and RIPON President of Her Majesty’s Privy Council and To the Right Honourable W. E. FORSTER MP Vice President

We the undersigned Clergy and Laity of the Archdeaconry and County of Dorset, accepting the principle of the Elementary Education Bill now before Parliament, by which in existing Schools perfect liberty of Religious Teaching is guaranteed to the Managers, together with perfect liberty of withdrawal from such Teaching to the Parents of the Children, do earnestly deprecate any Alteration in the Bill which may affect such principle.

At the same time we are prepared to concede, if necessary, the substitution for the so-called Conscience Clause, of an Enactment which shall confine the Teaching of the Formularies of any Denomination to the first part of the School Hours.

CANFORD

Ivor B. Guest, Bart., Canford Manor
John Pyne, land agent, Canford Manor
W. Atkins, miller
Samuel Holland, farmer
M.A. Clewett, schoolmistress

Source: An Address from the County of Dorset on the Elementary Education Bill, May 9 1870 by Dorset. Published by H. Spicer, Dorset County Chronicle Office, 1870.

Administration

County: Dorset
Civil Registration District: Poole
Probate Court: Court of the Peculiar of Canford Magna and Poole
Diocese: Salisbury
Rural Deanery: Pre-1847 – None, Post-1846 – Whitchurch
Poor Law Union: Poole
Hundred: Cogdean; Poole Borough
Province: Canterbury